Mid-Afternoon Market Update: StemCells Climbs On Asset Purchase Agreement; Endologix Shares Drop

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.27 percent to 18,872.32 while the NASDAQ gained 0.27 percent to 5,289.89. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.23 percent to 2,175.40.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, technology shares gained by 0.65 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NVIDIA Corporation NVDA, and GigPeak Inc GIG.

In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares fell by 1.24 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Haynes International, Inc. HAYN, down 12 percent, and McEwen Mining Inc MUX, down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Target Corp. TGT reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and raised its forecast.

Target posted quarterly EPS of $1.04 beating analysts’ estimates by $0.21 per share. Its revenue of $16.44 billion was $0.14 billion more than expected.

Target revised its full year 2016 EPS to a range of $4.67 to $4.87, from a prior range of $4.36 to $4.75.

Equities Trading UP

Globus Maritime Ltd GLBS shares shot up 177 percent to $13.67 after gaining 72.73 percent on Tuesday. Globus Maritime is up 175.9 percent since Election Day.

Shares of Diana Containerships Inc DCIX got a boost, shooting up 169 percent to $16.49. Diana Containerships shares climbed 276 percent, since the election.

StemCells Inc STEM shares were also up, gaining 33 percent to $1.42 as the company revealed it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with BODCO Silicon Valley to sell certain stem and progenitor cell lines and certain other tangible and intangible assets, including intellectual property and books and records relating to the assets, for $4 million in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Endologix, Inc. ELGX shares dropped 23 percent to $7.59 as the company issued an update on Nellix PMA process. Endologix disclosed that the FDA has requested the company to provide a two-year patient follow-up data from the EVAS-FORWARD IDE study of Nellix System.

Shares of PDL BioPharma Inc PDLI were down 22 percent to $2.91 after the company reported a proposed $150 million public offering of new convertible senior notes due 2021.

Lantheus Holdings Inc LNTH was down, falling around 12 percent to $9.02. Lantheus reported plans to upsize the public offering to 3,500,000 shares of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.37 percent to $46.22 while gold traded up 0.01 percent to $1,224.60.

Silver traded down 0.72 percent Wednesday to $16.92, while copper fell 1.41 percent to $2.48.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.20 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.56 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.73 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.66 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.78 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.63 percent.

Economics

The Producer Price Index came in unchanged for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

U.S. industrial production was flat for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent growth

The NAHB housing market index came in unchanged at 63.00 for November, versus a prior reading of 63.00. Economists expected a reading of 63.00.

Crude supplies increased 5.3 million barrels for the week ended November 11, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were projecting a drop of 2 million barrels. Gasoline supplies increased 700,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 300,000 barrels.

The Treasury International Capital report for September will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker is set to speak in Philadelphia at 5:30 p.m. ET.